Ex-hostage In Beirut Files Suit Against Twa

August 20, 1985|By Charles Mount.

A Hoffman Estates travel agent who was among the 153 people hijacked aboard Trans World Airlines Flight 847 on June 14 and held hostage in Beirut filed a $1,075,000 damage suit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court against the airline.

Peter Hill, 57, who had arranged the tour of Greece and the Holy Land for 32 Chicago area residents also on the plane, charged that TWA was aware of lax security at the Athens airport, where the hijackers boarded the Rome-bound plane.

He contended that the airline should have used its own metal detectors and other devices to protect the passengers against terrorists.

In his 14-page suit, Hill recounts the horror and dangers faced by the victims during their captivity.

He said that in addition to the fatal shooting of Robert Stethem, 23, a Navy petty officer on the plane, there were two other shootings witnessed by some hijack victims. In one instance, he said a terrorist accidentally shot another terrorist.

According to the suit, the accidental shooting in a building where a group of hostages were being held in Lebanon drew a crowd of passersby. Then a terrorist shot one of the bystanders in the leg when he failed to leave the area when ordered to do so.

When the hostages were released last month, Hill was one of the most outspoken in criticizing the terrorists. In his suit, he related that after he returned to the United States he received anonymous threatening phone calls that are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The suit was prepared by John J. Kennelly, who has represented families of air crash victims in multimillion-dollar lawsuits against airlines and plane manufacturers.